I interviewed this past week for DEC, and I'm pretty confident I'll get an offer. I live in SoCal, and am typed in the E175 already, so would chose that aircraft. Having looked at the seniority map for bases, it shows the lowest CA at LAX as 03/22. That gives a reference point, but there are other factors that impact time to getting into base more. At the major I retired from, when I bid to LAX I was 18 months junior to the bottom Captain there. 5 years later I was still 18 months junior to the bottom Captain, because there was zero movement at the base, and it took me 11 years at the company to upgrade, vs 3-5 years had I stayed at one of the junior bases.

So my question for anyone who might know is how much movement is there out of LAX that might leave an opening I could get into quickly? Is there any movement out of SAN that might open that up, or is it lifers who will never leave, and no growth?

I have other offers that are giving me more in terms of longevity bonus, pay, vacation, and retirement, but they'll leave me commuting for as long as I decide to stay at work...or maybe a driving factor in us moving out of California. If I could, within just a couple of months out of training, hold LAX, I'd opt for that, but I don't want to pass on other offers, and find myself commuting to MSP or IAH for the next 2-3 years.

****Edit with regards to response below: I'm not looking for anyone's advice on where I should go, what I should do, who I should fly for. I didn't say, "Should I fly for Skywest, or apply at Joe Blow Airlines?" because with my experience if I wanted to fly for Joe Blow Airlines, I would apply there. I'd rather fly up and down the west coast primarily. Skywest seems to have the best base/opportunity for that. So please, I'm not looking for other opinions on where to go or what to do, I'm looking for specific thoughts regarding movement and expansion at LAX and SAN.